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Australia was founded
Australia was founded on the 26th of January, 1788. The day is celebrated as Australia Day. However, the land was brutally taken from the Aboriginals. -
The Australian gold rush begins
The Australian gold rush begins when Edward Hargraves discovers payable gold near Orange, at a site called Ophir. The gold rush had a significant impact on the Australian economy and development of the nation. -
Federation
The six British colonies were unified under one nation known as the "Commonwealth of Australia". -
WW1 Begins
Australia's involvement began in the First World War when Britian and Germany went to war. Andrew Fisher, Australia's Prime Minister at the time promised Australian support for Britian "to the last man and the last shilling." -
WWII Begins
On the 3rd of September 1939, prime minister Robert Gordon Menzies announced the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Second World War on every national radio station. Almost a million Australians served in the war against Germany, Italy in Europe as well as against Japan in south-east Asia and other parts of the Pacific. -
Darwin Bombing
The Bombing of Darwin was the both the first and single largest attack ever by a foreign power on Australia. 236 people were killed and 300 were wounded. The Darwin harbour and the town's two airfields were targeted in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using it as a base to defend the invasions of Java and Timor. -
The Australia Act
The Australia Act was passed in 1986 which made Australia fully independent of the British parliament and legal system. -
National Sorry Day
26th May, 1998 was the first day that 'National Sorry Day' was held. The day remembers and commemorates the mistreatment of the country's indigenous population. -
Apology to the Australian 'Stolen Generation'
On Feburary 18, 2008, Kevin Rudd, the prime minister at the time publically apologised to the children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from the families by the Australian Federal and State government. -
Black Saturday bushfires
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that burned throughout Victoria. It was Australia's all-time worst bushfires of all time. As many as 400 individual bushfires were recorded on the 7th of Feburary. 173 people died and 414 people were injured as a result of the fires.
